


When All is Dead and Gone

by hughjackman



Category: MAJOR INFINITY WAR SPOILER, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Character Death, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt Tony Stark, I saw IW almost 4 hours ago, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Spoilers, Teen Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, and I am still crying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-28 19:54:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14456571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hughjackman/pseuds/hughjackman
Summary: Tony had never thought he’d love someone as much as he did this kid.Or.How I wish the ending of Infinity War had gone instead.





	When All is Dead and Gone

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING - this fic contains a MAJOR SPOILER for the ending of Infinity War. I don’t recommend reading it before you watch the movie, but if you have watched it, go ahead, read it, and cry with me.

Tony had never thought he’d love someone as much as he did this kid.

Growing up, all he’d ever received was his mother’s affection. His father? Not a thing. Sometimes - _all_ the time - he didn’t even think that the man cared about him. He’d never shown him any ounce of kindness, or compassion, or _love_.

Not a thing.

And so when he met this kid - _Peter_ \- he vowed to do something. To prove to his father that a Stark _was_ capable of love. That a Stark _could_ care about something more than his own life.

But he found he couldn’t do _anything_ as Peter fell forward into his arms.

“I don’t wanna go, Mr Stark! Please! I don’t wanna go!”

The words pierced his mind, shattering his resolve, and he shook as tears rolled down his cheeks. No. He couldn’t- he _couldn’t_ lose him.

He wanted to say something - _anything_ \- but the words wouldn’t come out of his mouth.

What would he have said, anyway?

_“It’s okay, Pete. I’ve got you. You’re okay, I’ve got you. I love you, kid._ So _much.”_

If only.

The words were stuck in his dry mouth, tears falling silently, and he clung onto his boy, too afraid to lose him. He wasn’t focused on anything else, only the teen in his arms. The teen he’d told to _stay at home_. The teen he’d _failed to protect_.

His boy.

_My boy. I’m going to lose him. I’m going to lose my boy._

He closed his eyes, feeling the body in his arms begin to fade. _Dissolve_. Into _nothing_. He was slipping through his fingers like he’d never even _existed_.

But he had. Because Tony was feeling emotions. Real, _existing_ emotions. And his heart was _really_ breaking, and his _real_ eyes were shedding _real_ tears.

He felt a lump in his throat as he dared to open his eyes. He almost choked. All that was left of Peter was ash.

_Remains_.

Of a boy who had changed his life forever.

On the ground, on his hands, on his suit. _Everywhere_.

“ _Peter_ ,” he cried out, suddenly finding his words. He grew frantic, scooping up piles of ash and cradling them to his chest. He looked around, his breaths coming quickly and shortly. He was panicking. And he had no-one. _No-one_.

No Strange, no Quill, no Drax, Mantis, Pepper, Steve, Rhodey… no _Peter_.

“Peter! Come back, buddy! Please! I need you! I _need_ you. Pete… please… please…”

Tears were flooding from his eyes, running into his open mouth and dripping onto the floor. He shut them, desperately trying to will it _not to be real_.

“Mr Stark?”

Peter?

“Mr Stark? It’s me! It’s Peter!”

_Peter?_

“Where- where are you, Pete? I need you to- where are you?”

“I’m right here, Mr Stark!”

“No, you’re… _where are you?_ Come _back!”_

“Mr Stark!”

“Peter…”

“Tony!”

“Please…”

_“Dad!”_

Tony’s eyes flew open, and he jolted upright. His eyes quickly took in his surroundings. Bed, TV, wardrobe, cushions, a photo frame of him and Peter…

“Mr Stark?”

“Peter?”

The man’s head snapped around, coming face-to-face with a very worried-looking spider man. The teen’s hands were wrapped tightly around his shoulders, and his eyes were clouded with concern. He was dressed in his iron man pajamas, feet bare, hair an absolute mess…

“Are you- woah!”

The boy yelped as he was quickly taken into a strong embrace, arms immediately wrapping around him. A head came to rest on top of his, and he found himself growing even more worried at the breaths - clearly attempting to be controlled - emanating from above him.

“You’re alive,” he heard. “Thank _God_ , you’re alive…”

Peter’s eyes widened slightly, and he rested his head against the man’s chest, expecting to hear the fast pumping of his beating heart. “You were having a nightmare,” he told him softly. “I didn’t really know what to do, but you usually wake _me_ up when I’m having a bad dream, so I figured I’d do the same with you.”

Tony smiled through his tears, holding onto the kid even tighter.

He was alive.

It’d been a nightmare.

_It wasn’t real._

Just a bad dream.

And Peter hugged back, the collar of his pajamas quickly getting wet from Tony’s tears but not caring in the slightest. He shut his eyes, breathing in the man’s scent and wishing this moment could last forever.

Tony seemed to have read his mind. Without thinking, he lay back against the cushions, taking Peter with him. He closed his eyes, the teen laying half on his stomach and half on the bed, and rubbed his back, knowing it always helped him get to sleep. “Alive,” he mumbled, “you’re alive.”

“Yeah,” Peter said, already half-asleep, “I’m alive. Don’t worry ‘bout me.”

He would always worry about him, whether he was dead or alive.

But that was just _him_.

“Love you, kid.”

“Love you too, Mr Stark.”

And as both Tony and Peter drifted off into the land of - hopefully uneventful - dreams, the man couldn’t help but think of two things before he fell asleep.

The first one was that he done what he’d vowed to do; he’d _proved his father wrong._

And the second… was that Peter had called him _Dad._


End file.
